1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to apparatuses, methods, and systems for representing a multimedia display. More particularly, the present invention relates to apparatuses, methods, and systems for displaying a multimedia display which displays multimedia data, a menu, and optionally information related to the multimedia data.
2. Descriptions of the Related Art
Due to the rapid development of technology, multimedia data can be displayed on a variety of products, such as computers and televisions. Using a keyboard and a mouse to control display of multimedia data on a computer is not new for users nowadays. On the contrary, using devices such as a remote controller to control display of multimedia data on, for example, a television is still novel to many users. Consequently, many researches and developments have been conducted for providing convenient equipments and graphical user interfaces (GUIs) for users to control multimedia data.
One of the researches and developments is to display information of multimedia data in a better organization. For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 6,621,509, information thumbnails are presented on a display area and details of multimedia data are retrieved based on the selected thumbnail. Moreover, a selected 3D object will be displayed in a foreground according to user selections. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,678,015, a user may select a number of workspaces to be displayed at the same time. Each selected workspace is then mapped to a polygonal surface in texture, and the polyhedron rotates under user's control. The two patents simply disclose the solutions to show the information of multimedia data, but do not introduce a friendly operation to control multimedia data.
In U.S. Pat. No. 6,636,246, a 3D spatial user interface is provided, on which content of portals is displayed within each rectangular spaces. Upon selecting an item of multimedia data, the application of the portals is invoked. Although it allows a user to intuitively locate and access resources from a computing device, the patent fails to provide a view of a plurality of multimedia data. Besides, it does not provide a particular structure to organize the multimedia data.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,898,435, an image display apparatus is provided. The image display apparatus displays multimedia data in a way of a cylinder. However, it only provides one-dimension display.
As a result, the GUI solutions of the prior art are still not friendly to users. How to display information of multimedia data and how to easily control the multimedia data remains an issue in the industrial field.